


News From The Sea

by sqbr



Category: Original Work
Genre: Comic, Fantasy, Gen, Talking Animals, vague lovecraftian tone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-07
Updated: 2014-11-07
Packaged: 2018-02-24 11:36:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2580065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sqbr/pseuds/sqbr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I first heard hints of the great undoing when I was still in the middle of the Empty Desert, taking shelter in a large cave with some fellow travellers against a sudden sandstorm. </p><p>A little fantasy comic adapted from <a href="http://alias-sqbr.dreamwidth.org/453069.html">this short story I wrote</a>. Created for a <a href="https://www.coursera.org/course/comics">Comic Books and Graphic Novels</a> course.  Transcripts in chapter 2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Comic panels

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Alice for her advice.

[](http://s863.photobucket.com/user/sqbr/media/newsfromtheseatitle_zps9ed3f06a.jpg.html) [](http://s863.photobucket.com/user/sqbr/media/newsfromthesea1_zps33fcb94b.jpg.html) [](http://s863.photobucket.com/user/sqbr/media/newsfromthesea2_zpsf848f1c3.jpg.html) [](http://s863.photobucket.com/user/sqbr/media/newsfromthesea3_zps6e588560.jpg.html) [](http://s863.photobucket.com/user/sqbr/media/newsfromthesea4_zpsb07a6a9f.jpg.html) [](http://s863.photobucket.com/user/sqbr/media/newsfromthesea5_zps5097ccf3.jpg.html)


	2. Transcripts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Does putting the transcripts in a separate chapter work for people?

All the art is black and white, mostly black lines against a white background. The humans are drawn in an low detail androgynous way.

Title: News From The Sea, white text against a black background with white waves.

Page 1:  
Panel 1: A bird in the distance approaches a half buried stone arch leading to a cave in the dunes. A sandstorm rages.  
Panel 2: The bird gets closer, and we see a figure (Sunny, who has medium length curly hair) watching from the cave.  
Panel 3: We see over Sunny's back as the bird gets even closer.  
Panel 4: The bird (Rose, a red tailed cockatoo) swoops in towards the floor to the surprise of Sunny, Ora (who is shorter and has a long plait) and Will (who is taller and balding). We can see a pile of fabrics in the background.  
Panel 4: Rose goes flop, eyes closed, onto the floor. 

Page 2:  
Panel 1: Rose's eye blinks  
Panel 2: Rose's wing flutters  
Panel 3: Rose: "Greetings. I am Rose, of the northern Redtails."  
Panel 4: Rose (to all the humans): "It would seem I am not the only traveller waylaid by this storm. Would it be impolite to ask to join you in this refuge?"  
Panel 5: Sunny (cheerfully): "Not at all! It's a pleasure to meet you, Rose. I'm Sunny, and this is my spouse, Will. We're on our way north to look for work."  
Will: "Hi"  
Panel 6: "This is Ora, it's their merchandise which has made this cave hospitable." Ora (blushing and looking small): "Nice to meet you."  
Panel 7: We see a camel chewing some grass. "And that's Meeta. They don't say much." Meeta: "Grunt".  
Panel 8: Ora, bending down towards Rose who is now sitting on the pile of fabric: "Friend Redtail, pardon my rudeness, but how is it that you are still so far north this late in the season?"  
Panel 9: Rose: "Ugh. It has been delay after delay, all far too tedious to describe."  
Panel 10: Rose (in ominous closeup): "Except...well. Have you heard about Ankord?"

Page 3:  
Panel 1: Ora, thoughtfully: "Ankord...A wide variety of dried fish, and you can get a good price for spices." Offscreen voice: "Yes thank you friend merchant"  
Panel 2: A crowded city street. Rose (offscreen): "It was a strange place. Too few trees for my liking, and too many people. Of course I could say that about any human city. In my parents' day this coast was all forest..."  
Panel 3: Sunny, smiling: "And my parents told me fairytales of a time when birds were like beasts, and could not speak but only sing." Rose: "Hmmph".  
Panel 4: A black panel with white waves. Rose: "Anyway,... The true strangeness of Ancord is the sea. It is not blue, but black, and the locals seem to fear it. I had heard that Ankord was a great city for fish, but there were hardly any in the markets, and the port was almost silent."  
Panel 5: Rose talking to a gull in an empty harbour. Rose: "Even the gulls are afraid to fly out to sea near Ancord. All anyone catches these days are strange creatures from the ocean's depths, white and bloated or covered in spines."  
Panel 6: Rose flying over a blank sea. Rose: "Naturally I had to see it for myself."

Page 4:  
Panel 1 (very large) A river delta, with a city around the river mouth and swirling darkness reaching towards it from the depths. Rose: "I flew up as high as I could, so high that the city was like an inkblot below me spreading out around the river. The sea near the city was a seething mass of darkness, the waves tipped with grey instead of white. Beyond the shallows the water swirled with unnatural currents, and strange shapes cut through the waves with disconcerting force. Something is out there, in the ocean, but I know not what."  
Panel 2: Back in the cave. Ora looks very sad. Sunny: "And?" Rose: "And I left! I have more important things to worry about than odd ocean colours. Or unseasonal storms, for that matter."  
Panel 3: Rose, smiling: "Now, enough of such dreary topics! Who wants to hear a song?"

Page 5:  
Panel 1: Sunny and Rose are cheerfully singing "And then the lonely budgie flew awaaaaaay..". Meeta is sleeping. Will walks towards Ora, who is sitting apart from the others and leaning against a ruined pillar. Will: "Ora?"  
Panel 2: Ora: "Sorry to be antisocial. It's just... Rose's story..." Will: "Do you know someone in Ankord?"  
Panel 3 Ora (ominous closeup): "No. But I have heard a lot of strange stories this season. Earthquakes in Dry Springs, twisted crops in Halbeth..."  
Panel 4: A ruined town lashed by rain. A stream leads to a wizened leafless tree. Ora: "And I knew people in Piar. Before the storm."  
Panel 5: Ora (ominous closeup): I keep thinkng...Noone knows what caused the old empire to crumble."  
Panel 5: The same shot of the ruined stone tunnel we saw in the first page. Ora: "Maybe it's not just the birds who have a problem with the new growth of human cities. And maybe soon...soon we're all going to find out what they plan to do about it." THE END

**Author's Note:**

> Something interesting that happened with this comic was that I ended up removing all explicit references to gender. Overall it ended up being subtly different in lots of ways as I tried to tighten up the narrative into an effective stand alone story with no narrator to do all my telling-not-showing. Also Meeta became a camel :)


End file.
